Mechanical Turk: Post file to externalSubmit interface?

Question

I have setup my own custom form for mechanical turk and am posting to their external interface.

<form enctype="multipart/form-data" action="https://workersandbox.mturk.com/mturk/externalSubmit" method="post" name="mturk_form" id="mturk_form">
          <p>
            <label for="turk_task_image_image">Upload an image</label><br>
            <input type="file" size="30" name="turk_task_image[image]" id="turk_task_image_image">
          </p>

          <b>- OR - </b><br><br>
          <p>
            <label for="turk_task_image_url">Specify an Image URL</label><br>
            <input type="text" size="30" name="turk_task_image[url]" id="turk_task_image_url">
          </p>

          <p>
            <label for="turk_task_image_description">Description (optional)</label><br>
            <textarea rows="3" name="turk_task_image[description]" id="turk_task_image_description" cols="80"></textarea>
          </p>
  <input type="hidden" value="ASSIGNMENT_ID_NOT_AVAILABLE" name="assignmentId" id="assignmentId">

  <input type="hidden" value="200" name="task[storyboard_location_id]" id="task_storyboard_location_id">
  <input type="hidden" value="36" name="task[turk_task_id]" id="task_turk_task_id">

  <p>
    <input type="submit" value="You must ACCEPT the HIT before you can submit the results." name="commit" id="submitButton" disabled="">
    <img border="0" style="display: none;" src="/images/spinner.gif?1274319066" id="spinner" alt="Spinner">
  </p>

</form>

When I go to retrieve the responses, all of the text field values are available but the posted file is not. According to the API docs, I should receive another url that should make the uploaded file available for download?

How do I go about getting the url of the file that is posted to the externalSubmit interface?

P.S. On a side note, I am using the rturk gem to build up these HITs. But I see nothing in the code regarding the support for posted uploaded files.

Answer 1

From what I can gather from the developer forums, it doesn't look like the external interface supports file uploads.

I saw one thread where a developer thought that they were going to implement it in the future but that was in 2008.

Another thread where someone states that you must handle the uploading of the file to your server and the submission of the externalSubmit form separately.

http://solutions.amazonwebservices.com/connect/thread.jspa?messageID=125657&#125657 http://solutions.amazonwebservices.com/connect/thread.jspa?messageID=92072&#92072 http://solutions.amazonwebservices.com/connect/thread.jspa?messageID=97431&#97431

I'm currently exploring an AJAXy upload interface for the file upload along with a separate externalSubmit form for the image details.